She grimaced again. Her head turned to the side as if I really had slapped her.
"You threatened Garrett from me?"
She didn't respond.
"Did you?"
She bit her lip. A sob convulsed from her, but she nodded once.
I gripped my stomach. The betrayal was there. I wished that she would've stabbed me. It would've been less painful than what I felt now. When would she stop hurting me?
I pressed on, whispering, "You kept him from me all my life."
"Sam," she choked out.
"Shut up, woman!" Logan surged next to me. "Let her talk."
Mason stepped closer to me. He didn't touch me, though I expected him to, but he was there. I knew he was there, in case I fell.
"You took my little sister from me?" Helen said Analise tried to kill herself, but that wasn't true. That had been the lie concocted to cover it up. She had committed murder.
"Oh god," she whimpered now. Her face crumbled, and she slipped to the floor. A hand held onto the counter, but it didn't help her. She held on, helplessly, as she curled into a ball on top of the tiles.
"Or did I have a little brother?" The question was ripped from me.
Her shoulders shook now and a sob sounded out. It was low and feral. It came from her core, but I didn't care. Not anymore. I knelt at her head, but she had it pressed into her knees. Tears and blood slipped over her skin. I didn't care where the blood had come from. I didn't even care that she was crying.
I whispered to her, "Did I have a little sister or a little brother?" It meant something to me. I needed to know. I had never asked. I had been too scared for too long, and then I had forgotten. "Mom!"
"Both!" she screamed. Her voice was muffled, pressed against her knees.
I stumbled back and fell. I could only stare at her in shock. Both? She was going to have twins?
She sobbed out, "Both! I was going to have twins. That's why there was so much blood loss. That's why I almost died. I wanted to die. I wanted to die…" Her shoulders shook with renewed frenzy as more sobs came from her.
Disgust flared within me.
Then I was being lifted back onto my feet. Mason had reached down and picked me up. He held me in front of him, but I shook my head. I wasn't ready to go so he waited. His hands never left my hips.
"You bitch."
Analise's entire body jerked from a tremor, but she didn't look up. She stayed in her ball and she kept crying.
No one went to help her.
I couldn't look away from her now. The great and almighty Analise was at my feet, literally. I'd been so scared of her for so long, then I had been angry at how selfish she was, but now I remembered so much more. She would never change. She had never been a mother to me. She never would.
There'd been so many questions swirling in me. How much had she paid David to stay away from me? No, how much had James paid. My mother had no money. She had nothing except for James and me, but she didn't have me anymore. I was done with her. But my little brother and sister. She had taken them from me. I gasped as the vomit almost came up. It was at the top of my throat. It wanted to spew out, but I pushed it down. I wouldn't let her see that reaction from me.
"Come on," Mason whispered in my ear. His hand curled around my arm, and he tugged me back.
I didn't move. I couldn't.
He bent and picked me up. I curled into his chest as he took me out to his car. As he placed me in the seat and clipped the seat belt for me, I couldn't move. I should've, but my insides had been gutted empty. She had done that—she had taken everything inside of me and ripped it all out. There was so much damage inside of me. I was damaged. How could anyone want to be around me? I was my mother's child.
As Mason shut my door and rounded to his side, I watched him through the glass. He was tense. His jaw was hard from repressed fury. The Mason I knew would've gone inside and wreaked havoc, but this one didn't. He was with me. He was taking care of me and being the stronghold that I needed.
He would wreak havoc another day.
He saw the small grin on my face as he got inside and started the car. "What's that for?"
A piece settled inside. His question was simple, but genuine. I heard his concern. I heard his love, and because there were no conditions to his love, it healed something inside of me. I knew it wasn't all of it, it wasn't even a sixteenth of it, but it was enough for now.
I reached over for his hand. At the touch, another little piece in me settled. I drew in a deep breath and held onto his hand tighter. The tears spilled now. I couldn't see anything as he pulled out from the driveway and started down the road. My throat was full of emotion. I couldn't say anything either. I just held onto him.
He drove for awhile, stopping for food a few times and even buying a coffee for me at one point. I took it, gratefully. As I sipped, the warm flavor settled my stomach a bit. That was when I noticed that he had turned his phone off. It sat in the console between us with no blinking lights. This was Mason. If it had been on, there would've been flashing lights. His phone never stayed silent for long. Someone was always calling or texting. Then I thought about my own and checked it. It was nearing midnight.
I sucked in my breath. What had happened to the night? Then I asked, my voice was raspy, "Where are we going?"
He shrugged. "Just driving. Where do you want to go?"
I settled back into my seat. It felt right—being with him, alone, in the middle of the night. It had started to rain outside, but we were protected inside the car. We could've driven all night and I wouldn't have cared. I murmured as much, "I don't care."